Sunday, October 18, 2009

Leaf Quilt :Mosaic Monday



This small quilt was a study in shading using bleach.












I drew out leaves and cut them out of freezer paper.
















I layed the freezer paper out on black fabric in the pattern I chose. I had a mixture of bleach and water in a fine misting bottle. I gently misted the fabric, making sure not to move my leaves. ( I used some weights to hold the leaves down). Do this OUTSIDE as the fumes can get nasty. I then watched my fabric change to a light brown where the bleach was. When I reached the desired effect I quickly rinsed the fabric on cold water to stop the chemical reaction. Using some hand dyed and some batik fabric I cut out the leaves from the patterns I had made with the freezer paper. I fused them to the black fabric off setting them just a bit to create the shadow effect. I was lucky in finding a fabric with all the leaf colors for the edging. I then quilted the background and quilted the leaf vanes. Fun project. In photographing I found it a little difficult to see the shading. But to the naked eye the leaves seem to pop right off the fabric.




Thanks to Mary at the Little Red House for hosting Mosaic Monday. Drop over and see all the wonderful mosaics people have taken time to create.

34 comments:

Barbara Jean said...

These are awesome. What a great technique!!

Love the fall colors.

blessings
Barbara jean

Jasmine said...

This is stunning. Do you mind if I try this? If I do I'll be sure to post a link to this page. x

Mary said...

Wow, Sharon, what a beautiful quilt! Thanks so much for sharing your talents at MM. :)

Ebie said...

Hi Sharon, this is so creative and you have the patience to do it.

I love it!

Ebie's Mosaic.

Carol said...

Very cool project! Came out so nice!

ellen b said...

Your process and result is so interesting. Very nice...

Snap said...

Sharon, this is really cool! Beautiful!

Jeanne said...

Wow that is just amazing! How did you ever hear/learn to do something like this? Beautiful! RYC: yes that is a pumpkin on top of a zucchini. Took me a double take to realize and snap that shot hehe.

SavoringTime in the Kitchen said...

How talented you are! Beautiful leaves - they really glow.

deb said...

Love it!
*hugs*deb

Lenore said...

Great mosaic....love the colors of the leaves.
here is the info for my mosaic that I got from Chari...

I wanted to leave you the link to Ed's Flikr toys...it's where I frame my photos. The photos in my header are framed with an effect called frosted glass from the framer option on that page! I also have Picasa and used it to put the header together...but I also use Ed's Flikr mosaic maker as well!

Here is the link...have lots of fun, my friend!!!

http://bighugelabs.com/

First I used the "Canvas panels" from the drop down choice in "Framer" I saved that photo and then came back and did the "Frosted glass" option.

Hope that explains it clearly.

Claudia said...

What a very very cool idea-- again you have inspired.

And today... the music from Dances with Wolves... took me back.

Thanks so oo much

If you have a moment — I would love you to stop by and say hi!

TTFN~~ Claudia ♥ ♥

Pearl said...

What a beautiful technique, I'm off to see the rest. Thanks for the sweet comments.

Caroline said...

How festive and creative. A lovely way to celebrate the season!

Diann @ the thrifty Groove said...

How awesome! Great idea!

ch said...

This is a beautiful quilt and the technique sounds so interesting and fun!
One day I'd like to try my hand at quilting. It is such a beautiful art form.

DoanLegacy said...

You're so creative! And the quilt mosaic is just fantastic!

Jorgelina said...

Hi!
what a beautiful quilt! Original!!
Hugs

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

Hi Sharon! What a gorgeous quilt! And such a unique and creative technique for creating the leaves! Happy week!...Debbie

Shelley said...

Sharon - you are so talented! Those leaves look beautiful!!

Thoughtfully Blended Hearts said...

What a wonderful technique...and thanks for the directions...your quilt and quilting is absolutely gorgeous...Thanks for sharing

My name is Riet said...

How lovely and creative that is. Have a nice day

Unknown said...

Such a beautiful quilt! I love leaves and once made a quilt with all the fabric scraps having leaf motifs. Very fun. It took me about 2 years to collect all the fabrics. Everytime we took a trip, I was looking for leaf motif fabrics. We even got snowed in while passing thru Montana and I braved a walk from our motel to the little hardware store. They sold fabrics and I bought 2 with leaf motifs. Sorry for rambling on :)

Blessings!
Gail

ginger@bearbits said...

Hi Sharon, This is really lovely. The leaves look real. I had a thought that how much more amazed could I be if this wasn't a study and you were serious?!! Ha ha! You have a wonderful eye and a super talent.

Monica said...

Oh, just stunning Sharon!
Monicaxo.

storyteller at Sacred Ruminations said...

Fascinating experiment ;--)
Interesting results too. Thanks for dropping by and have a lovely week.
Hugs and blessings,

geni said...

What a nice technique!
I have to try this sometime.
Thank you for sharing the pictures and the way you did this.

Carole said...

What a great technique. I have so much fabric that could benefit from that process. Thanks for sharing!
xo...Carole

Brenda Pruitt said...

How beautiful! What a lovely way to make a quilt with this bleach technique.
Brenda

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Sharon, you make such beautiful quilts! I like how you embroidered the leaf veins..they look so real!
I've done a variation of this using a bleach solution on an art rubber stamp and then stamping it onto dark paper. The paper then fades and shows the design. It's fun because sometimes there are surprises in how the paper will lighten and the colors that appear.
Happy MM!

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

Wow! That is beautiful! If it looks this good on the internet, I can imagine how gorgeous it is in person. So clever of you to come up with the way to make the leaves look so realistic. laurie

Unknown said...

You are the fabric Queen. You really have a eye for color and texture, I just love it Sharon.

Also thanks for posting the Kate Hanley book, I'll be sure to look for it.

beth

Maggie said...

What a lovely quilt you have created, it makes such a pretty mosaic too.
Maggie

Janet said...

That is a beautiful quilt and sounds like a fun technique.